Pair of young bald eagles die in nest

Sunday

Jul 26, 2009 at 12:01 AM

CAMPO SECO - Two young bald eagles who were just days away from being able to fly on their own died together in their nest last week to the dismay of Valley Springs-area bird watchers who have been following the family since March.

Dana M. Nichols

CAMPO SECO - Two young bald eagles who were just days away from being able to fly on their own died together in their nest last week to the dismay of Valley Springs-area bird watchers who have been following the family since March.

"They were doing the little hops and the practice hovers," said Stacey Hebrard, a retired California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection fire captain who has been viewing the nest off Sandretto Road almost every day.

Earlier this week, Hebrard photographed what may have been the eaglets' last meal. She arrived Thursday morning to find the adult eagles in distress and no sign of life from the eaglets, who had been so visible days before.

"It is just a tragedy to see the adult eagles to go through so much work and for them to be so close to fledging," Hebrard said, referring to the stage when young birds can leave the nest.

Bald eagles are the nation's national bird and one of the few species to have been deemed stable again after having once been listed as endangered.

The nest is on East Bay Municipal Utility District land not far from Pardee Reservoir. Reservoirs in the Sierra foothills are popular places for bird watchers to see eagles and other raptors. The reservoirs also provide a source of fish, a popular food for bald eagles.

Young bald eagles have dark plumage and do not get the distinctive white head and tail feathers until they are about 5 years old. That difference in plumage made it possible for Hebrard and others to watch the progress of the eaglets, one of which just before its death was almost as large as its male parent.

Hebrard said that the California Department of Fish and Game had been notified of the deaths and had sent a game warden to retrieve the two birds from the nest so they could undergo a necroscopy to determine the cause of their demise.

California Department of Fish and Game headquarters in Sacramento was shut down Friday due to state budget cuts, and officials there could not be reached for comment. But a staffer at the EBMUD office near Valley Springs confirmed that the bodies of the eaglets had been removed for analysis.